Blind Revenge
By: Manda and Allison

A/N: For those of you who've waited so long for this chapter. Thanks to the loyal fans, and to Angie, our wonderful beta.

Chapter 10: Wrestling with the Shark

"Goddamn it, Conrad!" The head of Graveshift massaged his temples irritably with his right hand, halted at the nurses' station on Catherine's floor by his shifty-eyed counterpart, Conrad Ecklie. "When are you going to get it?"

"This isn't a matter of who's learning what, Gil- we're the case CSI's on this. Trust me- we're doing everything we can for Catherine."

"If you gave a rat's ass-" Nick was cut off by Grissom's sharp glare, and he retreated to stand by Sara.

"Look, Conrad- if any of my CSI's were allowed visitation, the odds are that someone would have been here when this went down."

"And the odds are just as good that they wouldn't have, Gil. Someone was determined to eliminate Catherine...and what makes you think your presence would have mattered?"

"At least let us know what's going on." Warrick was the calmest of the assembled nightshift, speaking rationally when he knew Grissom didn't want to. "Where's Catherine now?"

"The doctors have her in the ER- they're pumping her stomach. Her attacker tried to give her an overdose...but we haven't determined what the drugs were as of yet." At that note, one of his men called from the doorway to Catherine's room, and Ecklie turned to stride briskly toward him, calling over his shoulder. "Get your people out of here, Gil!"

"That bastard." While Sara's opinion of Catherine had never skyrocketed past that of 'minor friend and valued colleague', she'd never become fond of Ecklie in any manner, and her expressive brown eyes bore daggers into his retreating back. "What do we do now?"

"Nothing." Grissom didn't wear defeat well, and his shoulders slumped beneath the weight of it. "Get back to the lab, guys. I'll get a ride back in a few hours."

"What are you gonna do in the meantime, boss?" Warrick lingered as Sara and Nick headed for the elevator, the concern evident by the deep furrows etched into his brow.

"Wait." Grissom's eyes met Warrick's stare, his blue orbs solemn. "Catherine's going to need someone here when she comes out."

"What about Lindsey? You want me to-"

"Bring a ten year old into this, Warrick? No- Lindsey's staying with Catherine's sister. Leave her there for now, and bring her when Catherine's more improved."

"Sure." Warrick at least retreated, and Grissom remained by the nurses' station, eyes still locked on every move that was made by Ecklie's crew. He remained that way for the next hour...and was asleep against the counter when Catherine Willows was at last returned to her room.

"Mr. Grissom?" Grissom felt someone tapping him on the shoulder, and immediately woke with a start.

"What? Is there news?"

"They're taking her back to her room...if you want to find out how she is...the doctor should be in there."

"Thank you," he smiled appreciatively before heading off in the direction of Catherine's room. To his surprise, he found neither Ecklie, nor Mobley anywhere to be found. Silently, he thanked god for that, and then pushed through the doors, and into her room.

She was asleep, under the eyes of her steadfast Doctor, whose white coat was wrinkled, bags evident beneath his eyes as he turned to face the new visitor.

"Gil Grissom- I'm a colleague." Grissom's eyes also swung over Catherine's slumbering body, her chest rising and falling gently beneath the fresh, cerulean blanket. "How is she?"

"Tired, I'd imagine. Sore for a while- we had to pump her stomach." The physician crossed his arms and shook his head. "She's going to be out for a while, Mr. Grissom."

"What happened?"

"Someone got in here- disguised as a nurse, is our guess- and attempted to force-feed Miss Willows a few more pills than are on her daily dosage. One of our night nurses stopped in to see if she needed the bedpan and caught the impersonator on his or her way out."

"We'll see about getting some guards posted at the door. In the meantime, there shouldn't be anyone coming in here, unless it's absolutely urgent. This person will come back again, and this time Catherine might not be so lucky."

"I'll oversee everything personally, Mr. Grissom."

"And Dr...um...Jackson?" Gil squinted at the man's nametag.

"Yes?"

"If you happen to see sheriff Mobley around here...tell him Gil Grissom needs to speak with him, and that it's urgent."

"Will do."

"Thank you."

Dr. Jackson left at the sound of a beep from his pager, and Grissom approached Catherine's bedside, wary of the few pieces of equipment arranged nearby. She was angelic, hair tossed about her head, moist pieces clinging to her forehead. Similar to the day she'd given birth, when he'd come to see her in the maternity ward, and her face glowed with the effort, her hair escaping its pins and tumbling over her shoulders. The only good time she'd ever been sequestered within a hospital bed.

Grissom saw very little to indicate that Ecklie's crew had ever been present in the room, his eyes instinctively sweeping over every edifice, every piece of equipment or surface area. They were good- he'd give them that. Nothing remained, and he bent to tighten the laces of his shoe before saying goodnight to Catherine.

There was something lodged beneath the wheel of her bed. A scrap of paper, barely detectable, and he yanked a glove from his pocket in order to retrieve it. Picking it up, he looked it over. It was a plain white sheet, nothing entirely special about it, and on it was, Grissom realized after a few moments, Catherine's room number.

Whoever was doing this, had been watching them. Had seen either himself or someone else enter the room. And if that was true, then there was a possibility they could still be there-in the hospital.

"Officer?" He was in the hallway within seconds, the paper pinched between the glove in his hand. The uniformed man at the end of the hall turned, hand reflexively at his hip as Grissom strode toward the nurses station. "Close off this floor- secure all the exits ."

"Sir, we can't-" But Grissom had already pulled out his cell with his free hand, flipping it open to strike the speed dial. "Sara, I want you and Nick over here- Catherine's hospital room needs another going over. No- I don't care if Ecklie's roaming the halls chopping off heads- I want you here now."

"Hey Grissom!"

Gil looked up from what he was doing to see Warrick waving at him from down the hall; Nick and Sara following closely behind.

"What's up, I thought this was Ecklie's case," Warrick asked as he approached, putting more emphasis on the no good day shift supervisors name than Grissom cared for.

"I think our suspect's still here, that's what's up."

"And there's no time to alert Ecklie. Right." Sara leapt to business, striding past the gang toward Catherine's room. "I've got pictures."

"Hey, wait up! You know how Cath hates pictu-" Nick's voice faded away as Warrick and Grissom were left in the hallway, two men without words, yet speaking volumes to one another. And after a moment, Warrick opened his mouth, eyes moving from Grissom to the elevator and back again.

"What's the situation, Gris?"

'It'll be okay, but she's just out of the ER and she's weak...we're going to have to treat this case like a china shop- no hotheads. Keep it impersonal, as we have been...and we'll make it over this hurdle like we have every other."

"Sure, Gris...sure," Warrick replied as he walked away, slamming his fist against the door to Catherine's room as he went in.

In any other situation, Gil might have thrown him off the case for that-for getting to emotional, but today...today he was just acting out what the rest of them felt. And somehow, Grissom couldn't see harm in it.

He needed to get the case back, feeling the control of the situation slipping through his fingers like water through a sieve. There wasn't anything he could visibly do to stop it- and he didn't enjoy the feeling. To wrestle a case from Conrad Ecklie was to wrestle a severed arm from a vicious shark...it took cunning and strategy to work around the higher powers.

The vast amount of officers combing the building had grown in the few hours Grissom had been present, wandering between the newly dubbed crime scene and the hallway, which remained void of all except uniformed officers and the occasional passing nurse. His thoughts were rifling through the past few days, procedures and the time he'd spent by Catherine's bedside instead of at the lab, trying to uncover the mystery further.

"Hey, boss?" It was Nick who brought him out of his reverie, the soft Texan accent breaking away the cobwebs of guilt shrouding his thoughts. "Officer Eldis found some guy trying to sneak out the fire escape in the men's room...thought you'd want to have a talk with him."

"Officer..."

"Eldis. Bit of a prick, Gris- but this guy's good. Said he had to wrestle the perp out of the window, took a kick to the face. He's got the dude in the waiting room down the hall."

"Are you done re-processing that hospital room?" Grissom asked, arching his eyebrow.

"Warrick and Sara are just finishing up," Nick stooped down and set his kit on the hard linoleum floor. Opening it up, he set the evidence he'd bagged and tagged inside and shut it once more.

"Well then, you and I need to see a man about a fire escape."

TBC.